Flotation reagent



Patented Julie-27, 1939.

UNITED STATES FLOTATION. REAGENT Royal S. Handy, Kellogg, Idaho No Drawing. Application March 7, 1938,

Serial No. 194,424

2 Claims. (Cl. 252-9) This invention relates to improvements in conditioning reagents adapted for use in conditioning ore for flotation treatment.

One of the objects of the invention is to pro- 5 vide a conditioning reagent that is highly efficient in serving to activate and float oxide ore particles after the sulphide ore particles have been frothed off,

A very special object is to provide a condition- 10 ing reagent that is especially eflicient in floating oxide ore particles in a pulp from which the natural colloids have been deflocculated or removed, as defined, for instance, in the method set forth in my patent issued October 29, 1935, No.

15. 2,019,306, for Concentration of ores.

The present invention is an improvement on my Patent No. 2,069,365, issued February 2, 1937,

for improvement in Flotation reagent, wherein I combined the features of ore conditioning and frothing, in one reagent.

In the present invention I have perfected a reagent that is strictly a conditioning reagent, in connection with which any desired frothing agent may be used, and my present reagent has been 25 successfully used with many kinds of ore where my former reagent was not equally successful because the cresylic acid therein sometimes produced a froth so violent as to be objectionable.

Broadly, my improved compounded reagent 30 includes an oxide ore conditioning mineral oil which, specifically, is. petroleum, and an oxide ore conditioning fatty acid, which, specifically, is oleic acid; these being the principal ingredients that primarily function as ore conditioning 35 agents. These principal ingredients are combined with an alkali saponifier which maygbe soda ash, caustic soda or any equivalent potassium salt, together with a pectizer, which may be, and specifically is, sodium silicate, which func- 40 tions to gelatinize the mass and which therefore might be termed a gelatinizing agent.

The sodium silicate functions to render the foregoing, ingredients miscible with one another,

and with water, and physically, the finished 45 compound is in the form of a jelly that is miscible with, but not soluble in water. In addition to its value as an ore conditioner, the oleic acid also functions as a coagulant for the oxide mineral grains in the process of flotation.

50 Because petroleum oils are so largely immiscible with water, they present extreme. difliculties when used alone, as conditioning reagents, and I have found that oleic acid, in the absence of petroleum oil, does not afford the desired condi- 65 tioning efficiency, under many conditions. However, when I mix petroleum with oleic acid I take advantage of the coagulating effect of the latter and make the petroleum effective by rendering it miscible in water. Further, since the alkali serves to saponify the oils, and the sodium silicate acts to congeal and gelatinize the mass, the ingredients of the latter when compounded not only become miscible with one another, but also with water, and hence I am able fully to utilize the conditioning efiiciency of the petroleum oil without being handicapped in any manner by its reluctance to miscibility with water. Thus it. will be seen that the ingredients of my improved compound, after being thoroughly mixed, function in a very different and superior manner as compared with their action if separately and in-, dependently introduced into the pulp.

The primary function of. this improved compounded reagent in a flotation process is to float the oxide minerals, as distinguished from the sulphide minerals, and it has been extremely efiicient and has been very successfully used in floating carbonates, such as cerussite, siderite, rhodochrosite, malachite; oxides, such as cassiterite, rutile; tungstates, such as scheelite, wolframite; sulphates, such as anglesite, barite; chlorides, such as halite, sylvite; fluorides, such as cryolite and fluorite and native metals such as gold, silver and copper. v

My improved reagent may be successfully compounded as follows:

The petroleum oil is mixed with oleic acid in approximately equal parts by weight; the alkali in dilute solution is then added to neutrality with constant stirring, care being taken to add the alkali slowly enough to prevent excessive frothing; the sodium silicate is then added very slowly with constant stirring until the massbecomes miscible with water.

Specifically, the novel compound has been prepared in the most preferred form, with the ingredients proportioned as follows:

Per cent by weight Oleic acid 45.1 Kerosene 1 40.6 Soda ash 5.5 Sodium silicate 8.8

While the improved compound is effective irrespective of the specific percentages previously set forth, to which I do not wish to belimited,

I have found in actual practice that it is far more efiicient if compounded ina manner which I shall next set forth;

The kerosene and oleic acid are mixed together and this mixture is warmed. Then I stir slowly into this mixture a five percent solution of the soda ash in hot water, which forms a creamy mass. Into this mass I stir very slowly a fifty percent solution of sodium silicate in hot water, which forms a smooth jelly that constitutes the completed reagent. For convenience, I use this reagent in a. ten percent emulsion in water.

I have also compounded my reagent with fuel oil in the following manner and successfully used it:

I mixed 20 grams of fuel oil with 22 grams of sleic acid and added slowly '70 cc. of a 5% solution of soda ash, and after the froth subsided I added 20 cc. of a 50% solution, by volume, of sodium silicate. The mixture was stirred continuously during the compounding and it resulted in a line, creamy jelly, completely miscible with water.

The ingredient proportions were as follows:

Percent by weight Fuel oil 34.8 Oleic acid 38.2 Soda ash (used in 5% solution) 6.1 Sodium silicate (used in 50% solution) 20.9

I will next give specific examples of assays resulting from the use of the compound in flotation.

A sample of wolframite ore was ground in the laboratory rodmill for 30 minutes to pass 65-mesh in size, and the ground pulp was de-flocculated and the resulting colloids were removed from the pulp by decantation. The resulting sands were floated first to remove the pyrite and galena and other sulphides, then the improved compound described above was added to the flotation pulp and the wolframite came up readily and rapidly in a. black froth, and the reaction was clean and satisfactory. The pyrite concentrate was cleaned by flotation, and the wolframite concentrate was cleaned by flotation, and then from the cleaned wolframite concentrate the wolframite was separated from the accompanying carborundum and other heavy oxide minerals by panning. The results follow:

Assay: Percent Percent Units Product percent total weight W03 W; W0,

Wolframite pan concentrnte 4. 4 70. 07 3. 083 53. 0 Wolframite pan residue- 4. 6 31. 07 1. 429 24.

Woliramite flotation concentrate 9.0 50. 14 4. 512 77. 5 Woliramite cleaner tailing. 10.1 8. 50 858 14. 6

Woliramite rougher concencentrate 19. 1 28. 5. 370 92. 1

Pyrite flotation concentrate 1. 5 0, 62 .009 0. Z Pyrite cleaner tailing 5. 9 7.03 414 7. 1

Pyrite rougher concentrate 7. 4 5. 72 423 7. 3

Flotation final tailing 73. 5 Trace .038 0. 6

Feed -1 100. 0 5. 82 5.831 100. 0

A sample of a talus deposit of a disintegrated breccia which had lain on the surface of the ground probably for centuries and which con- Percent Assay Units Pep total Product cent wegm Oz. Oz. Gold Sil- Gold Sil Au Ag vcr vcr Concentrate 3.2 2.26 20.0 7.23 64.0 72.3 56.0 Cleaner tailing... 24.2 0.115 2.0 2.79 48.4 279 43.1

Rougher concentrate 27.4 0.3 4.1 10.02 112.4 100.0 100.0 Flotation tailing.-. 72.6 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.0 0.0

Feed 100.0 0.100 1.12 10.02 112.4 100.0 100.0

An average sample of the tailings from a flotation concentrator treating 1000 tons per 24 hours assayed as follows:

- Percent Lead -s 0.85 Zinc 1.54

and upon adding my reagent compound to the last two cells of lead and zinc rougher sections, respectively, the average tailings assayed as follows:

Percent Lead 0.61 Zinc 0.93

indicating that the reagent is effective as a scavenger in the flotation of complex lead-zinc ores.

It is believed that the nature and function of my improved reagent" will be fully understood from the foregoing description, but I do not wish to be limited thereto except for such limitations as the claims may import.

I claim:

1. As a new and useful product of the class described, a compounded conditioning reagent for flotation treatment of oxide ore, consisting of oleic acid 45.1% by weight, kerosene 40.6% by weight, soda ash 5.5% byweight, and sodium silicate 8.8% by weight, all thoroughly mixed and compounded in the form of a jelly that is miscible in water in any proportion.

2. A compound conditioning reagent for flotation treatment of oxide ore in a pulp from which the natural colloids have been deflocculated or removed, consisting of petroleum oil, oleic acid as a conditioner and as a coagulant, soda ash as a saponifier, and sodium silicate for pectizing or gelatinizing the mass and rendering the ingre'dients miscible with water, all thoroughly mixed, and in the form of a jelly miscible with but not substantially soluble in water.

ROYAL S. HANDY. 

